The TNS™ takes water in through two precast permeable-concrete products made by PPC Australia – the EnviroKerb Frequent Flow Inlet (EFFI) for the frequent, low-intensity flows, and the fully porous EnviroKerb™ High Flow Inlet for the larger events. The number of each is calculated from the micro-catchment runoff calculations.
EnviroKerb™ is a product of PPC Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 28 642 804 573).
Both replace conventional kerb and channel, and both are interchangeable via cast-in threaded lifting sleeves – so a unit can be lifted out and swapped without breaking out the kerb line.
A precast kerb and channel inlet with a built-in galvanised steel tray filled with permeable concrete, integrated within the kerb and set on a precast concrete water ramp that directs surface water towards the back of the kerb.
A fully porous precast kerb made from PPC Australia's patented permeable concrete formula. It sits immediately downgradient of the EFFI, over its own precast water ramp that deflects flow away from the pavement subgrade.
How they work together. The EFFI sits upstream to take the frequent, low-intensity flows, with fully porous EnviroKerb™ High Flow Inlets downstream, adjacent to it, taking the larger events. In the TNS™, an ARI Water Filter beneath the EFFI tray protects the void structure from fines and is replaced by removal.
Manufacturer data, PPC Australia. Confirm current figures against the product brochure before specifying.
EFFI and High Flow Inlet
Galvanised steel, permeable concrete fill
Deflects flow away from the subgrade
Inflow capacity of up to 500 mm per minute – roughly 30,000 mm/hr – for the permeable concrete formula, tested to ASTM 1701 (PPC Australia). TNS™ hydrologic and hydraulic performance is designed and assessed against QUDM.
Recycled aggregate. The precast concrete body and water ramp can incorporate up to 20% recycled plastics as a replacement for mined aggregate. The tray insert aggregate can also include up to 20% repurposed soil material as an aggregate replacement. PPC Australia also cites enviro-friendly blended cement and recycled golf-ball aggregate in the EnviroKerb range.
EnviroKerb can be installed as a standalone item in any profile to replace traditional concrete kerb and channel, or used in conjunction with structural soil cells to form the below-ground retention the TNS™ is built on.
Manufactured to match the kerb profile the road already uses, so the streetscape reads as normal kerb and channel.
Conventional street sweeper and vacuum truck methods, programmed into a council's existing maintenance rounds. On the TNS™, watermatters.ai units measure flow against a calibrated baseline, so a drop flags an inspection before it becomes a blockage.
Wherever runoff currently leaves a hard surface faster than the vegetation beside it can use.
Because units are interchangeable via cast-in lifting sleeves, an existing kerb run can be opened, an inlet dropped in, and the run closed again – no redesign of the surface network.
“EnviroKerb technology aims to reverse the way water is handled in our streets – capturing it at the source and returning it to the trees, gardens and green spaces that make our cities liveable.”
Martin Cook · Director, PPC AustraliaThe inlets are the entry point. Everything downstream of them – water ramp, drainage cell, tank module, structural soil cells and tree pit – is the retention and storage asset.
Labelled cutaway: rain enters at the kerb line, passes the water ramp unit into the drainage cell and tank module, then down through the structural soil cells to the tree root zone. A small relief pipe at the base engages only once the connected systems have filled and the substrate is fully saturated.
The access locator is cast into the galvanised steel tray, so cleaning and replacement is a lift-out operation – not a break-out.
The tray sits flush in the channel and carries a Class D load rating, so the inlet behaves like the kerb and channel either side of it.
Attribution and scope. EnviroKerb™ and the EFFI are products of PPC Australia Pty Ltd; the brochures above are PPC Australia's own publications and the product data in them is theirs. BGI specifies these inlets as the entry point to the TNS™ and makes no stormwater quality claim for the TNS™ – where a project carries stormwater quality obligations, those are met by separate, appropriately certified measures. An updated EnviroKerb™ High Flow Inlet brochure will be added here when PPC Australia releases it.
The number of EFFI and High Flow Inlet units is calculated from the micro-catchment runoff for each node – not assumed. Send us the site and we'll size it.
Book a technical chat